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Some of the
biggest names in retail have come up with a way to give
financially strapped consumers an unlikely route to keep
spending: books and magazines.
But these are
hardly the kinds of best sellers or periodicals that
consumers typically find at a local bookshop. No racy love
stories. No nouveau diet journals. These are books that
specifically highlight the brands of those big-name
retailers that publish them but without toll-free numbers
or Web site addresses to push instant sales.
These books and
magazines take a different approach: reinforce brand image
and ever so subtly nail the sale. It's advertising without
immediately looking like advertising.
"(The books)
remind you of what wonderful things the retailers have and
help to nudge you into the store to buy," says Kathryn
Deane, CEO of The Tobι Report, a fashion publication
for retailers.
Making the
splash:
Bloomingdale's.
The upscale retailer is set for an October rollout of B,
a 130-page glossy magazine highlighting fashion, travel
destinations, entertaining and celebrity profiles.
About 270,000
customers in its loyalty program will get B by
mail quarterly at no charge. It will be available for sale
in stores for $3.95, and by subscription. The initial issue
has 80 pages of editorial content.
"These customers
want to be in the know, and we're credible to them," says
Frank Berman, head of marketing for Bloomingdale's, a
division of Federated Department Stores.
Limited Too.
The retailer of clothes and accessories for girls 8 to 14
starts selling Fast Friends, the first episode in a
series of fiction books, in July. The series, called
Tuned In and written by Julia DeVillers about the lives
of four best friends, will be sold for $5.50 exclusively at
the retailer.
"Entertainment
is a very important factor in a girl's life, so we have
taken our brand into that," says Scott Bracale, head of
marketing for the retailer's catalog and Net businesses.
"The premise is the issues facing girls competence, body
image, social structure."
He says the
139-page book, published by Limited, is not intended as a
commercial endeavor despite generic fashion references
throughout, including a back-to-school shopping list for
central character Maddy: "sneakers (blue), pants, shirts,
skirt, shoes, choker, earrings, bag."
Coach.
An 80-page, $18.95 book showing handbags, hats, shoes and
other products by the high-status leather goods maker and
retailer made its debut in Coach stores in December and hit
bookstores in March.
"We did it in
collaboration with our 60th anniversary to show the history
of one place and communicate it to people interested in the
brand," says Reed Krakoff, president and executive creative
director at Coach, established in 1941. Text is limited to
the book's foreword and introduction.
Don't expect to
pick up the phone or click the computer mouse for products
exciting enough to pry open a fistful of money. These
look-books don't have 800 numbers and order forms. But they
are selling tools.
Retailers want
readers to absorb the lifestyle their brands portray.
"Consumers want
to use the (lifestyle books) to inform themselves," says
Cynthia Cohen, president of retail consulting firm Strategic
Mindshare.
This form of
brand extension also helps retailers save on skyrocketing
advertising costs because they can be more strategic. For
example, retailers can target their ad spending for new
styles or categories while using the books to keep older
styles in front of customers.
"The rule of
thumb is to scream louder and longer in your advertising,"
says William Cody of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative
at The Wharton School. "And this gives you another voice to
make the lifestyle aspirational."
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